Dinner with the African Children's Choir!

Had fun with the kids from the African Children's Choir last night. My family brought baked ziti and our friends Ellie and Eileen (see Mesta's and Ellie's blog on my links) brought chicken. The kids live in Mirembe House. This is a home our church bought for them on 6 acres of land.

I am in love with all of these children and pray for them to grow into happy healthy adults. And we pray that they can grow to be excellent leaders in Uganda....maybe one day they will live to see the world change so that they will not have to watch as more children are orphaned etc.

We also had dinner with the kids on Friday night at my friend's house. Nine of the children flew back to Uganda on Saturday and 9 more arrived very late last night. In May they will all go back to Uganda and a new choir will come. We will greatly miss them.

These kids have spent the year touring, performing with Sandi Patti, Josh Groban, Bono etc. They have stayed at some amazing hotels as well as in sleeping bags in many church basements. But they are orphans whose main goal is to make the world aware of the plight of the orphans in Africa. Uganda has strict adoption laws so the intent is not to try to adopt them but rather encourage support for their program and any programs in Africa that can help the destitute children... Find out more at www.africanchildrenschoir.com

My 2 year old is totally confused. Everytime she sees the children from the ACC she thinks they are her siblings and wants to know why we don't put them in the car to bring home. She always says "my kids,my kids". Last night the baby played African drums during devotions and worship time with the children. She also played with their new dolls and was walking around with SUSAN's green flip flops....it was cute.

These children really have such great opportunities with the Music For Life program in Uganda. But only so many children can be served. There is way too much work to do.

Please keep the program and staff in your prayers especially Elsa (who we hope to find a husband for), Sara, Craig, bev and gary, ray, julia, suzanne, Harriet, Robert and Joshua to name a few.....

And happy new year...

DISH TO PASS! JAMES 1

It is Christmas eve day and as I wait for the turkey to totally defrost (soaking it in water for the last half hour or so….old trick but officially not on the packaging), my son has placed the gifts in piles. He has counted them 4 for Sam, 8 gifts for Matea and Andrew. Some gifts for Ejigayehu, Kidist and Yared that will remained wrapped until they get home. Andrew says “hey mom you have no presents under the tree”. I had told my husband I didn’t want anything (we are trying to save money etc). But still I feel like Mom and Dad are totally the winners this year. My heart is so full with my beautiful family. God is so good.

Since ‘y’all’ (yes this yankee is being southernized by living in NC) can’t be here for the turkey just want to give you FOOD FOR THOUGHT , some real meat to chew on. I have been thinking a lot about James 1 in the bible. The entire book is full of good juicy morsels. But in reading I would like to approach it from the end of the chapter to the beginning (sort of like…’eat dessert first’).(shh.. I had cookies for breakfast....)

James 1: 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Many of us know that scripture but I think it is important to read before this passage too. This is the scripture that truly convicted us to adopt. We can know what God wants but if we don’t DO what He wants, what is the point?

TAKE ACTIONS
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS:
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

So: He asks us to take care of His orphans. He calls us ‘deceived ‘ when we don’t act on His command/word. And He knows we will be facing trials but our perseverance will make us better people.

If any of you have a calling to adopt please take the leap. God needs you to join us in caring for His children. He will provide. There will be trials, you will most likely have doubt or fear (I did many times) but HE will pull you through and give you the best gift of all…the honor to be on His team, doing His work and serving next to the ALMIGHTY. There is no greater gift!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! WE PASSED!

We are all on our way to a working trip in Baltimore but just found out that we PASSED COURT....please celebrate with us. We are thrilled. Any of my forum friends please don't mention anything on the forum as we were told very early due to our specific situation,,,,YAY! We will tell you when we have travel date...PRAISE GOD!

Tomorrow is Court! December 21st!

As I type this is it 4am in Addis. In a few hours a judge will be getting up, having his coffee, reading the paper and then setting off to court. This will be business as usual to him but to our three kids whose fate he holds in his hands it could mean a major life change for the better. Our kids won't know that this is going on. They will be in their classes at Layla House and playing jump rope at break time. All I can say is that by the time we all wake up (and some of you read this)another court date will go by and we will either have passed or have to endure another upcoming date probably 3 weeks into the distance.

I have learned alot about myself through this journey. I always liked to think of myself as someone who had a lot of faith in God. But I have learned that I don't have nearly enough. I have learned how to force myself not to panic. I have learned to WAIT for God's will to be done even when I feel the need and desire to have the goal accomplished immediately. I have come to realize that even though our three children will be adopted there will be a million kids in Ethiopia that will still be waiting and may live out their entire lives (probably shortened lives) without parents to tuck them in at night, correct them, hug them, tickle them.

I have spent weeks pleading with God and begging Him in desperation to bring our kids home. But my prayer tonight is different:

"Thank you God for this amazing life. Thank you for this incredible experience. Thank you for the lessons learned. Lord forgive me for having pride in believing I was stronger than I was. Forgive me for forgetting who was in control. Forgive me for believing in what the world was showing me and not holding on to what you had been showing me all along. I have spent many Christmas' asking you for things. I have spent many years asking you to fulfill my desires of worldly success. Lord I bow before you and come to you to and ask you to forgive me and allow us to serve You. Allow us to minister to the call that is the closest to your heart. The call to take care of your orphaned children. Mostly Lord with our hands raised high volunteering for this blessed calling we pray that You will truly choose us. In return, we offer our home, our hope, our hearts, love, laughter, family, friends and all we know of YOU to these children (Ejigayehu, Kidist and Yared). Through You all things are possible. We pray that the Holy Spirit will move the judge tomorrow to knowing that these children have an appointment with God that begins with his saying YES to our case. Mostly Lord we vow to praise You, Love You and honor You regardless of what happens tomorrow. May Your Glorious, all Powerful, Righteous Will be Done! In Jesus name...AMEN!"

AARRGGHHH!!!!

This is the email we received today from our director. I am just crushed and ticked off...I sent a letter back to her that was not very sweet. This is our 5th court date. The reason we are in this predicament in the first place is because the Agency's attorney and staff failed to notice in the fine print on the papers that there were ever any additional children. It wasn't until the judge mentioned it on the last court date 12/5 til they even knew these kids existed. It is my opinion that had they been diligent enough to check out all of the paperwork in the first place we wouldn't have been wasting this much time. These kids have been in the orphanage a year. It has now been 4 years since they have been totally orphaned.....PLEASE PRAY that the judge will be reasonable and generous and understand how long the kids have waited...or that the boys will show up..Here is the email:


"Just to let you know. Tefera has had a hard time actually locating the brothers. He has carefully documented all of the contacts he has made in trying to find them. He has had a letter prepared by our sponsorship office stating that when the boys are located they will be accepted into our sponsorship program. Today is a holiday in Ethiopia. If they are unable to locate the boys before Friday they will go into court with information about efforts to find them and the plan for when they are found, and hope for the best. We will let you know when we know more."

From our director

"One adoption won't change the world but it will change the world for that child."

New Letter from Ejigayehu!

12/15 (we just now got this translation back....it came this weekend). Please pray that we can come to her soon. LOVE LOVE THESE KIDS!!!

Letter from Ejigayehu

To my beloved family,

I miss you. How are you doing? I am doing good. I received the letter you wrote me. I thank you for all you have done for me. We celebrated Ethiopian millennium last week. It was very good. We lit bone fire. We also celebrated a holiday called “Meskel”.
My wish is that you come quick so I can live with you. We love you very much. Please say hello to Andrew, Sam and Mattia. We are glad to find a brother and sister. Please tell my grandparents I love them.

Until I write you again, hope to find you in peace.

Bye, From Ejigayehu
To my father and mother

Totally Humbled!

My friend's blog totally blessed me tonight and I am feeling better now that I have time to really pray etc...but wanted to share this...you can read more on Eileen and Jerry Mestas blog...(click on link). An excellent reminder to keep your faith....

Job 42:1-17

1 Then Job replied to the LORD :

2 "I know that you can do all things;
no plan of yours can be thwarted.

3 You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?'
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.

4 "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.'

5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.

6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes."

Epilogue

7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.

10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver ^[a] and a gold ring.

12 The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so he died, old and full of years.

Prayer Requests/December 21st!

I am in Palm Beach Florida today in a hotel room. Going to bed very early. I have a meeting tomorrow at a place called Club Collette. I'll be home tomorrow night. It actually is pretty nice. Gives me time to think and pray. We have our big court date again this Friday and as you can imagine are very anxious especially with the many rejections at court. I have been having sleeping difficulties between the house not selling/closing date coming soon on the new house etc. And our business being way down. So pray for our house to sell as well. And for God to continue to bless our business and finances. We are seriously considering trying very hard to delay the closing of our new house to avoid carrying two mortgages. We started this process with the house before we knew we were adopting. I felt strongly it was God's will to sell our office and build a larger house. Then we decided to adopt. I will admit I have reached my highest stress level to date. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking of the fact that we haven't sold our house, our business is down AND we are moving into a bigger house . This is happening every night...AND I have a high tolerance for stress. I rarely lose sleep. I keep reminding myself that faith is in believing in the things we can't see and not what we see. So, please pray for peace. I have no doubt God has called us for these kids...but my fear is not being able to pay for everything....and I believe adoption is so close to God's heart and therefore a real battle...so we are battling for God's will to be done and that nothing will get in the way of that ...So the more prayers the better.

love,
D

Names of the BOYS!

Okay...today we received some more specific info of our kids brothers. Their names are Kibru (age 16) and Yidnekachew (13-every time I hear his name I think of a sneeze Yidne KACHOO. This is good because I will always say "God Bless You" after I hear his name...sorry but I couldn't resist/trying to keep a sense of humor). They live in the Assella region of Ethiopia which is south of Addis. This is more of a OROMO Tribe region. But we were told they all speak Amharic which would imply they are not considered Oromo. Also, according to Ejigayehu they have been going to school. They live with the grandmother and apparently only lived with the children after the mother died. At that point the younger 3 moved in with the grandmother. They are from the first father who passed away years ago. The mother Bayoush had remarried and the boys never lived with the family when the mother was alive.

I hope this helps and at least we know who we are praying for now. Still waiting for 12/21 court date.

KPIC Christmas show!

Saturday night we performed "I'll be home for christmas" (I know it is ironic considering we are awaiting our kids arrival) at our church's talent show. It was incredible. There were about 500 people that showed up and the talent pool was remarkable. I also finally realized that I needed to add my links to my websites . So under links we have a link to our "very first dance" dvd---(take a look) and our website for the Deanna Jones Orchestra and Jacobs Journey (under Deanna and Mark's christian music)

I am attaching some pics from Sat. Mark and I now have a recent pic that we like from this sat. And I am attaching a pic of Naty who is at our church and was adopted last April coincidentally from the same orphanage as our kids. So he is anxiously awaiting the arrival of his friends (Ejigayehu, Kidist and yared ) to our church.

I also loved how beautiful all of the children were in this program. Very international....

My extra Two Teenage Sons!

Okay, I don't know what it is, maybe it is the joy of the Lord protecting me but I feel really giddy when I think of how this has all played out with having 2 additional kids in Ethiopia. I still am not happy about waiting. But I can't help but giggle when I think there are 5 not 3 kids. Granted they are two teenagers who I don't even know their names, but I can't help but think that God has a plan for them. I really belive the judge was just really doing what God wanted of Him. Because now these two boys will go to school and have some money every month through AAI. But more than that I hope that when we meet them in Addis (when we pick up our three little angels), that we can set up a meeting at Yemi's brother's church (her brother and sister can translate). I hope we can set up a support system (not talking just about finances, but mentors through the church) for them. I hope they will be open to going to Geta's church and hope they will committ to staying on the straight track and hopefully learning more about Jesus. I believe God has a big future for them. I am still awaiting to even get their names and info on them..ie do they live with our kids grandmother etc. But I just know I have to have more faith , be less impatient and believe in His perfect timing ..I am reminding everyone in advance that our next date is 12/21 although maybe we could go to court before that and pass (it happened to one friend of mine). Please pray this is it...AND Please go over to my links and check out JEN's blog...amazing story on her blog today..incredible...

Yemi and Ban!

I had never in my entire life known anyone from Ethiopia until this year. We had just joined a new church about April and then in May decided to adopt. I had told my friend Linda we were adopting from Ethiopia and she said "the ethiopians have been kissed by God. They are the most beautiful people on the planet." Linda is a member of our new church www.kpic.org and was the person who introduced me to the church. She knows everyone. She said "you should meet my friends Yemi and Ban they are from Ethiopia and go to our church." I couldn't believe the timing. I had never ever ever met anyone from Ethiopia and then my new church had this sweet couple and apparently they are not the only Ethiopian people at the church. So for several months Yemi and Ban were standing by for the right time to help me out , teach me to cook, teach me some phrases etc. Well when we started to get letters from the kids in Amharic they were available to translate. I would scan the letters send them to Ban and he would email the translation back. WHAT A BLESSING! And since then Yemi has given me cooking lessons for Shiro and SegaWat. We discovered that we have another thing in common. Their families are very musical and happen to be worship leaders in their evangelical ethiopian churches both in Addis and in the DC area. They are working on a CD (we are working on a cd too). Considering using some of our songs to have them sing them in Amharic. Ban's mother Selamawit is in Addis and wants to pick us up from the airport. Yemi's sister and brother in law sing and play keyboards in their evangelical church in Addis. Mark is putting together sounds for the keyboard over there and we will be singing and worshiping with them in Addis at their church when we get there. I just can't believe how amazing God is. I have spent my entire life not knowing anyone Ethiopian and now I have 3 kids from there, (2 teenage long distant sponsored sons), two friends here with their families adopting us while we are visiting all the way over in Addis. God is good and extremely efficient.

Mestas!

Today I visited my friends Eileen and Jerry Mestas (jerry was working). They had just returned from Ethiopia and had foot tracings of my kids. Kidists feet are about the same size as Andrew's. Ejigayehu has long feet and Yared's feet are a little smaller than Andrews. Ellie (Eileen's daughter) is the most adorable girl and they had taken pictures and video of the kids. We are so blessed to have these new friends. They adopted 2 twin infant girls named Keziah and Keren and their son Josiah (I think he is 3) is adorable. Check out their blogs for their entire story. The links have been added to my page under links...

We are keeping the faith and hanging in there. God is good and keeps providing us with encouraging moments etc. We are very fortunate.

D

Failed Again!

Unfortunately, we did not pass court again today. And we are equally shocked because we found out that our kids have two older brothers ages 13 and 16. Feels like I went to get a sonogram and the Dr. told me I was having quintuplets when I thought it was just triplets. These boys are unadoptable for whatever reason. We don't even know their names although asked for more info. because we are assuming that if this adoption goes through we will probably be having some communication with them via letters etc. So now we have a new court date 12/21 and the agency will have to prove that they are sponsoring the two boys. This means financial aid and schooling (which you have to give some credit to the judge for thinking of this). The boys have to agree to go to school and show up before the judge. We also have decided to take our funds that are allocated to WorldVIsion, Shaohannah's Hope and Christian Children's Fund and and give them to the Layla sponsorship program. We have not been asked or required to do this which we appreciated but feel it is warranted. The money goes into a general fund for their programs not necessarily specifically for these kids. It is an excellent program anyhow....but just praying the kids are not going to cry and be disappointed with waiting as their friends leave etc. Please just pray with us and for us and all 5 of the kids in Ethiopia. The good thing is that it looks like the kids will move straight into our new house.

I also think we are in the elite group of people who have gone to court this much.

Thanks,
D

4th Court Date! December 5th!

Okay we have another court date on this Wed. December 5th. This will mark the kids one year anniversary of being in the orphanage. They were admitted 12/6/06. And if we pass will travel from around 12/30 or 31st for visa on January2 return on 1/4. .....This also means that the children will be able to be in our church on 1/6 which is the eve of the Ethiopian Christmas. I just want to say for all of you that were praying they would be home for christmas we either should have been more specific or maybe God is trying to tell us something and maybe Jesus' birthday really was 1/7th. HA! God is faithful...prayer is powerful. Please pray that they will give us info immediately....and that we will pass. I am feeling really good about this....

Prayers!

Don't mean to be a prayer hog...but if you can click the comment button and pray for us and our kids we would really appreciate it. We are very worried about our case and have no information due to the poor communication at our agency. My ethiopian friend has offered to have his mom Selamawit in Addis to go to the orphanage or call asking them to email me an update....usually this happens through the adoption agency...any opinions...I am thinking it might be way too pushy and they probably wouldn't give her the info anyhow....we just want to know where we stand regarding court etc.....I have cried alot this week and even screamed out very ticked off at GOd...I have even questioned whether I had been misled in my believing He wanted us to do this (after all wouldn't it have gone smoothly then). I know it is all crazy but I need to glide on the faith of friends and family right now because I am fresh out....so please pray ...we do not want our new potential children to have their hearts broken by having this adoption jeopardized in some way....
Prayers please....